Light Heavyweight

The Daily Recap is a collection of news and notes from around the web that will be posted at the end of each day. Bout signings, injury news and much more can all be found here.

— Former WEC featherweight king will try to get back on track in a pivotal bout against former WEC bantamweight title holder Brian Bowles in a main card bout tapped for UFC 139, which takes place on November 19 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. Faber last fell to Dominick Cruz via unanimous decision in a failed bantamweight title bid at UFC 132 earlier this month while Bowles returned to the cage after over a year on the sidelines due to injury and took a unanimous nod over Takeya Mizugaki. [UFC.com]

— Nate Marquardt is among many high-profile free agent fighters being courted by upstart Brazilian promotion Amazon Forest Combat for their debut show on September 14. Among those already signed to compete are Royler Gracie and Paulo Filho and Satoshi Ishii, who will face each other in a likely light heavyweight bout. Patrick Cote, Marcus Davis, Jordan Smith and Rony Torres are among the fighters offered bouts on the card. [Tatame]

The Daily Recap is a collection of news and notes from around the web that will be posted at the end of each day. Bout signings, injury news and much more can all be found here.

— Rising featherweight contenders Brad Pickett and Renan Barao have been signed to meet in a potential main card affair at UFC 138 on November 5 in Birmingham, England. Pickett has won ten out of his last eleven, most recently knocking off a returning Ivan Menjivar via unanimous decision at the WEC's final show in December. Barao has won all three of his bouts under the Zuffa banner to date, including a decision win over former WEC featherweight title holder Cole Escovedo in May. [The Daily Telegraph]

— Fresh off of a win oveR "TUF 3" winner Kendall Grove in his debut at middleweight, wrestling product Tim Boetsch is set to face undefeated Canadian grappler Nick Ring at UFC 135 on September 24. Boetsch opted to drop to 185 lbs after earning a 3-3 mark as a light heavyweight in the UFC. His opponent, Ring, is perfect thus far in his professional career. Some of his notable wins include submissions of Bill Mahood and James Head and a controversial decision over DEEP middleweight king Riki Fukuda. [UFC.com]

The UFC will hold a press conference today at 12:00 PM ET promoting UFC 135, which features a light heavyweight title bout between champion Jon Jones and former champion and challenger Quinton "Rampage" Jackson on September 24 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.

Both Jones and Jackson will be in attendance as well as UFC President Dana White and other fighters slated to compete on the card.

The Daily Recap is a collection of news and notes from around the web that will be posted at the end of each day. Bout signings, injury news and much more can all be found here.

— UFC veterans Kendall Grove and Joe Riggs are likely to rematch under the ProElite banner at the promotion's relaunch event on August 27 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Both fighters are coming off of recent releases from the UFC and Bellator respectively. Grove and Riggs originally fought in May 2004, with Riggs coming away the victor via first-round KO at Rumble on the Rock 5. [MMAFighting.com]

— Former UFC middleweight champion Murilo Bustamante has been forced to withdraw from his upcoming farewell bout against Yuya Shirai at a Clube da Luta event in Brazil this Wednesday due to a back injury suffered in training. Bustamante will be replaced by Delson Heleno, who will take on Shirai at a 180 lbs catchweight. [Tatame]

Streaking welterweight prospect Jordan Mein will make his Strikeforce debut at the organization's September 10 event against seasoned veteran Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos, of which a date and venue have yet to be announced.

Strikeforce officially announced the event and matchup this afternoon on Twitter, also confirming a trio of previously rumored bouts for the card, including Strikeforce middleweight champion Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza's next title defense against American Kickboxing Academy product Luke Rockhold.

In addition, former Strikeforce lightweight title holder Josh Thomson will welcome newcomer Maximo Blanco and former light heavyweight champ Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal will return to action for the first time in over a year to take on Roger Gracie.

A planned light heavyweight attraction between Rich Franklin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has been removed from the UFC 133 card after Nogueira suffered an undisclosed injury during a recent training session and was forced to withdraw from the bout.

The UFC announced on Saturday that it was ultimately unable to find a replacement opponent for Rich Franklin and has decided to use his services at a later date. The company's light heavyweight division has been plagued by an injury bug as of late, prompting changes in nearly every major 205 lb fight scheduled in recent weeks.

Vitor Belfort's middleweight clash with Yoshihiro Akiyama has been promoted to co-main event status and a welterweight contest between Brian Ebersole and Dennis Hallman will be shifted to the event's main card.

The Daily Recap is a collection of news and notes from around the web that will be posted at the end of each day. Bout signings, injury news and much more can all be found here.

— A pivotal welterweight bout between Charlie Brenneman and Anthony Johnson has been booked for UFC on Versus 6, a newly-planned event that could take place on October 1 in Washington D.C. Brenneman capitalized on being placed in a last-minute matchup with rising contender Rick Story, grinding out a decision win over the 26-year-old. Johnson fought for the first time in well over a year this past March, winning a unanimous nod over former title challenger Dan Hardy. [UFC.com & Heavy MMA]

— Brandon Vera will return to action and attempt to snap a two-fight losing streak when he faces "Ultimate Fighter" alumnus Eliot Marshall at UFC 137 on October 29 in Las Vegas. Vera was dominated over three rounds against Thiago Silva in May and released from the UFC in January, but the bout was changed to a no-contest after Silva failed a post-fight drug test and Vera was reinstated. He'll take on Marshall, who also returned to the UFC after an unceremonius release in March, falling to Luiz Cane via first-round TKO. [UFC.com]

Three-time NCAA wrestling champion Jake Rosholt avenged a November 2010 defeat to former IFL middleweight title holder Matt Horwich, besting him over three rounds in the main event of Shark Fights 17 on Saturday night in Frisco, Texas.

Rosholt has now won six of his eight fights following his release from the UFC, with the two blemishes being a no-contest with John Ott and third-round TKO loss to Horwich that has now been avenged.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez extended his winning streak to twelve straight victories, picking up a quick submission win over a familiar opponent in Doug Williams, who was a last-minute replacement for Karl Knothe.

A pair of title defenses also took place: Hiroyuki Takaya grinded out a hard-fought split decision win over former Olympic wrestler Kazuyuki Miyata and Gegard Mousasi took out challenger Hiroshi Izumi in quick and impressive fashion, scoring a first round stoppage of the Japanese judoka.

The semifinal round of Strikeforce's heavyweight grand prix tournament will reportedly take place at a yet-to-be-named location on September 10.

A pair of matchups pitting Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem against Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Josh Barnett against Sergei Kharitonov are what remain of the eight-man field.

According to MMAJunkie.com, four other bouts are also rumored for the card, including a Strikeforce middleweight title defense between champion Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and Luke Rockhold as well as the promotional debut of Maximo Blanco, who will face Josh Thomson.